Welcome to our Sea of Thieves Guide on Cargo Runs. In this guide, we give you a step by step guide on how to be a pro-pirate when it comes to delivering the Cargo for the Merchant Alliance in Sea of Thieves and what’s the best way to get all the commendations.
The commendations are very simple, you simply just need to deliver 25 to a 200 cargo crates for your doubloons and titles while the crates are in prime condition (I will explain that in a bit). 200 may seem like a giant number but honestly, it’s not that bad since you get 4-8 crates per cargo run depending on your Merchant Alliance reputation level. With that being said, let’s begin!
First and foremost Cargo Runs are a new type of voyages that involve you in finding the right merchant on the islands and then getting their crates delivered to another merchant in the world of Sea of Thieves. With that being said, we’re going to explain how this system works and how you need to need to deliver the cargo step by step.
The first thing you want to do is talk to Merchant Alliance vendor on an outpost and pick the Cargo Run voyage. Once you’ve done that go to your boat and start the voyage just like any other type of voyage in Sea of Thieves.
Go into your inventory and read the voyage and it will tell you how many crates you need to do deliver and who the merchant is. The merchant is normally in one of the shops on the outpost where you got the voyage.
Once you find your merchant he will have an option to give you a crate. There are 3 types of crates in Cargo Runs that you’re able to deliver. A Crate full of rum, crate with silk and a crate with plants. Each crate also has its own gameplay mechanic that damage the crate which will cause you to lose gold once it’s delivered.
For example, if you jump around too much, or fall of a cliff the crate full of rum will get damaged and you will lose the value of your rum. If you’re carrying a crate of silk and it rains the silk will get wet and lose its value and if you do not water the crate with plants in them then they will dry out, turn yellow and die.
To find out who to make the delivery too, simply approach the crate and press the button prompt on screen and it will tell you the name of the merchant and the name of his or her shop. Normally the delivery will be at one of the seaports which are kind of like mini-shops in the world of Sea of Thieves with unique merchants and discounted items.
When you’re delivering cargo you also wanna make sure that you never rush your delivery and everything stays intact. If you have a lot of silk on your boat then put those specific crates on the below deck so that way when it runs they do not get wet.
I also suggest you also put a crate of rum below the deck as well in case lightning hits your boat, but honestly, if you do get shot at by a cannon then the crate of rum is pretty much done for anyway regardless of where it’s at. As for the plants, just keep them on the top deck, so if it rains you do not have to water them 24/7 if your journey is far from over.
For turning any of the crates at their prime condition (which means no damage) you will get 350 gold in the regular regions (The Wilds, Shores of Plenty and Ancient Isles) of Sea of Thieves but no reputation reward towards the Merchant Alliance. However, if you do the cargo run in the Devil’s Roar you will also get much more than 350 gold and reputation reward towards the Merchant Alliance.
As for pro tips, we highly recommend you do these cargo runs in an alliance with other crews or at least a duo crew or more people because it’s just way easier to take care of the crates and multiple people can be assigned for different crate care. If you’re a solo player it’s totally doable just a lot more time to consume and challenging, but if you’re up for the challenge then go for it.
Also, make sure you take advantage of the rowboats, especially on Devil’s Roar because the rowboat can be a life and a crate savior as well.
When doing Cargo Runs you also do not want to get in combat, so try to stay away from other pirates ship and do not get yourself involved in a sea battle if you can avoid it. Now if you get attacked by a Kraken or a Megalodon then I suggest you run your pirate ass to the closest outpost or fort because once you’re close to an outpost or a fort the Kraken and Megalodon will de-spawn once you get close enough.
That pretty much wraps up our Cargo Run Pro Guide for Sea of Thieves. We hope this was helpful for you so please let us know in the comments section below how your Cargo Runs went down and feel free to ask more questions if you need too.
You can check our official Sea of Thieves Guide page right here as well for more pro tips. Stay tuned to Gaming Instincts for more gaming news, previews, reviews, features, guides and more.
Includes several titles.
Which was showcased at E3 2003.